Tokyo Olympics: I never gave up on Jeremiah - Coach

By Amiril Muttaqien Meketar

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 -- Tokyo Olympic Games-bound artistic gymnast Jeremiah Loo Phay Xing is a prime example of why one should never give up hope.

“I want to quit” was a phrase often echoed by Jeremiah after suffering a horrible shoulder injury during training back in June 2019.

Thankfully, national men’s artistic gymnastics coach Ng Shu Liang managed to prevent him from early retirement by continuously encouraging him to persevere.

When Jeremiah suffered the injury, Shu Liang said he had only one job - to ‘rebuild’ the 23-year-old gymnast and get him back on track.

“Despite the injury, Jeremiah went on to represent Malaysia at the 2019 SEA Games in Manila at the end of 2019 and aggravated his shoulder injury. Being a competitive athlete, he was so upset with his performance when he failed to deliver any medals for Malaysia.

“Then came his rehabilitation process after the SEA Games until he recovered last August… it was indeed a difficult period for Jeremiah as he almost quit gymnastics,” Shu Liang told Bernama when contacted today.

The 38-year old coach pointed out that he never gave up on Jeremiah and kept on pushing him “as I could see that he has great potential and distinctive quality that makes him one of the country’s top gymnasts”.

“I’ve been putting so much effort to convince Jeremiah to stay - I never gave up on him,” said Shu Liang.

Shu Liang’s patience and perseverance paid off big time after the Penang-born Jeremiah earned a spot in the Tokyo Olympics, which will be held from July 23 to Aug 8.

Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) honorary secretary Afrita Ariany Nasril, in a statement late last night, confirmed the men’s all-around event slot for Jeremiah based on the results of his participation in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany in October 2019.

Still hampered by his shoulder injury, Jeremiah managed an 87th-placing with 76.664 points in the all-around event in qualifications at the 2019 Stuttgart world meet, which served as a qualification competition for Tokyo. 

The Perak-born coach admitted he was flabbergasted upon receiving news of Jeremiah’s Tokyo Olympic qualification via a friend last night.

“I asked Jeremiah to come down to the lobby to share with him the good news,” said Shu Liang, who is currently staying at the National Sports Council (NSC) in Bukit Jalil for quarantine-based training.

Shu Liang, who described Jeremiah’s Olympic qualification as “a massive achievement” for him since he began coaching the national squad in 2007, hopes that the Penangite will be able to better his brother, Ng Shu Wai’s effort in accumulating 54.649 points en route to finishing 38th out of 98 gymnasts in the men’s all-around event qualifying round of the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Shu Liang has also thrown down the gauntlet to Jeremiah to at least score 78 or 79 points in the all-around event at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo. (The all-around event for men comprises six disciplines: floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar. The top 24 gymnasts will then qualify for the all-around finals.)

On Jeremiah’s preparation, Shu Liang said they would try to arrange a simulation tournament by letting him compete with his teammates so as to create a “real” competitive feel.

With Jeremiah's inclusion, Malaysia will now have 24 athletes in eight sports, including national artistic gymnastics queen Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, competing in Tokyo, with several more national athletes still awaiting qualification.

-- BERNAMA